Comic Book Resources have posted up several preview pages from Dark Horses’s upcoming Alien, Predator and Alien vs Predator series (titled “Fire and Stone”):

Aliens vs. Predator interior drawn by Ariel Olivetti

“The “Fire and Stone” line will include five books in total, with the fifth still unrevealed. “Prometheus” will be written by Paul Tobin, with art from Juan Ferreyra. “Prometheus” #1 is set for release on Sept. 10, with subsequent series then launching biweekly in this order: “Aliens,” “Alien vs. Predator” and “Predator.”

Comic Book Resources also have the un-coloured interiors by Patrick Reynolds for Aliens and Chris Mooneyham for Predator, making for 12 pages of Aliens/vs/Predator preview goodness. Thanks to Ultramorph for the news.

Regardless of how they fare against each other, I'm hoping the aliens and predators really dominate the humans, like tear them to shreds. I hope they make the xenomorphs really fast like how they are in the AvP FPS games. The predators should agile, stealthy hunters, not lumbering bruisers who football tackle xenomorphs and swing them by their tails...none of that silly sh*t please

Xenomorphs should have a raptor-like predatory cunning. Predators should be tactical and skilled

I'm curious how they'll explain the goo working on an android...do we know much about the inner workings of androids in the Aliens universe? Are their organic bits purely for appearance? Does the black goo work on a more "metaphysical" level (i.e. it works on any being with self-awareness)?

Is Engineer tech going to be at least somewhat rooted in known science or is it going to be completely out there in that it might as well be magic to us?

I think they'll establish that Elden is some kind of older model synthetic with human tissue; something like a Replicant. On the other hand, you may be right about sentience being the key to whether the goo effects an organism. Cavalorn speculated back when Prometheus was out that an individual's mental state and motivations may be key to how the goo effects them, so maybe DH will go in that direction.

As far as Engineer tech and real science, I'd say to expect a small amount of real world science, but for it to mostly be "magic."

I'm curious how they'll explain the goo working on an android...do we know much about the inner workings of androids in the Aliens universe? Are their organic bits purely for appearance? Does the black goo work on a more "metaphysical" level (i.e. it works on any being with self-awareness)?

Is Engineer tech going to be at least somewhat rooted in known science or is it going to be completely out there in that it might as well be magic to us?

It definitely seems like the black goo will have some royal jelly-like properties in "Fire and Stone." I'm wondering what the mutant's overall goal will be. Exterminating inferior humanity ala Skynet? Some kind of communion with the Engineers? Very much looking forward to this.

I really like what Im seeing so far, and Im as excited for this as I ever was since it was announced. I also always liked the Royal Jely angle in the old series, I see the mutation thing will come back with the black goo taking royal jellys place. The mutation idea comes back even to the pre comics times, with the Arcade game

That's really strange to see considering that I've liked the Alien stuff I've seen from Patric Reynolds. Tracing is just a cop-out. Hopefully this is not indicative of the quality we can expect from these comics.

I can definitely see some invoking of Greg Land here.. I can't remember who did that black and white panel, but it's clear that they likely had traced or filtered the source image with some alterations, and just added in a few more details. You know that's something which comic fans had called Greg Land out on, because it's straight up tracing.

I know that photo references are used a lot in comics but there is an acceptable boundary. The Aliens in that panel look like they were treated in photoshop with some filtering. The lines even match up for the rib cage areas. Aside up a few additions and tweaks, this might even be straight up filtering and tracing.

I completely understand that people have some (justifiable) reservations about this whole reboot/relaunch, but I'm a bit more willing to cut this stuff some slack. DH could easily clean up those few panels where the xenos looks a bit short.

Agreed. If you look at some of the "Aliens" panels, you can also see that the xenos there would tower over the humans if they stood up straight. I completely understand that people have some (justifiable) reservations about this whole reboot/relaunch, but I'm a bit more willing to cut this stuff some slack. DH could easily clean up those few panels where the xenos looks a bit short.

Good catch...it seems like the pygmy xenos are an artistic f*ck up

In the comic Predator Race War, there's a panel with what looks like a 12ft predator

I completely understand that people have some (justifiable) reservations about this whole reboot/relaunch, but I'm a bit more willing to cut this stuff some slack. DH could easily clean up those few panels where the xenos looks a bit short.

Back to the main topic, it is not actually the art or the size of the xenomorphs that disappoints me but rather the indication that Dark Horse will just publish mini series along the traditional formula; focus on action and gore.

The new AvP series has been stated to be the most action-oriented. From the previews alone, I can't tell if the entire AvP series will be a gore-fest.

I don't think it will, but there will definitely be quite a bit of action as the foundation of AvP is aliens and predators going at it for our entertainment. I mean, the Prometheus, Aliens, Predator, and AvP series will all have some gore in them. For all we know, the previews are simply showing us more action-oriented pages. Again, I think we should reserve judgment until the final product is released.

If action and gore isn't your thing, you'll probably like the AvP series the least. The Prometheus series will likely have the least gore

I am not trying to deviate the topic but I would love to see Dark Horse make a try at Star Trek comics as the IDW run is quite forgettable.I am mostly annoyed that they focus on comics based on the new movies, barely doing any stuff in the original universe/timeline that established the franchise in the first place.If IDW doesn't want to do more work with the original IPs then perhaps another publisher should.

Back to the main topic, it is not actually the art or the size of the xenomorphs that disappoints me but rather the indication that Dark Horse will just publish mini series along the traditional formula; focus on action and gore.There is nothing wrong with doing that sometimes but I would really like to see the writers experiment more with storyline concepts and not use only Aliens as a basis for stories.

I think someone on this forum once wrote that the planned Alien 3 would have been sort of Film Noir (with a bit of horror), continuing the trend of putting the Alien movies in different kind of genres (Alien - horror/thriller, Aliens - action/thriller)I would love to see stuff like that. (No, I am not suggesting an eventual romance genre story yeez)

Look if they lose their main audience they basically have nothing as it's essentially coming in fresh.Replacing SW.

I wouldn't say that Alien-Predator is the only thing which is being put out to replace Star Wars. And I doubt that Alien, Predator and Prometheus would be on-going anyways where as Star Wars was on-going (I think even DeConnick said it wasn't going to be on-going).

Dark Horse going to be focusing more on creator owned projects and developing more superhero titles, this is likely to cover the gap which Star Wars is leaving behind.

Someone should tell the writers that even the hardcore devoted fans won't be picking these up until some drastic design changes are made, we don't want stunted shitty Aliens.

I doubt that they would change the designs and size of the Aliens.. But then again, I could be wrong about that since they have changed the artwork on some of the covers. So I suppose it's not outside the realm of possibility in changing the artwork.

Not sure how far they are in the creative process in all of this though.

I have lost all faith in AVP comics. It feels like the mindset is as long as something that looks like an Alien or Predator is shown in a comic, it will pass fan standards. After all, it is only a comic. Dam shame.

Yeah!

Wtf is with the Aliens.

Someone should tell the writers that even the hardcore devoted fans won't be picking these up until some drastic design changes are made, we don't want stunted shitty Aliens.

I have lost all faith in AVP comics. It feels like the mindset is as long as something that looks like an Alien or Predator is shown in a comic, it will pass fan standards. After all, it is only a comic. Dam shame.

I am a big comic book fan and have read several Aliens comics in the past, but I gave up on them as they tried to be much like the second movie instead of good story telling.Sadly from that one drawing it seems the new line of Aliens comics are more of that.